Spencer Ellsworth

Fiction and Excerpts [1]

Science Fiction || Ahmed is a doctor working in a far flung outpost of humanity. His way was paid for by the leaders of his faith and his atheism is a guarded secret. His encounters with the "kite people" will cause him to doubt his whole worldview however when the aliens start dying and escalating tensions between religious extremists threatens to destroy the colony's peace. "When Stars Are Scattered" is a moving story about alien contact, religious intolerance, and the redemptive power of the divine channeled through the spirit. Whether that spirit is human or alien.

Threequels. Not the groundbreaking first, not the stake-raising second, but the one that goes big or goes … elsewhere.

Return of the Jedi is equal parts ham-fisted plot cleanup and high emotional moments. Henry V is high-stakes action and excitement that nonetheless manages to create a closing arc for a complex character, even if it eschews the comic complexity of Henry IV parts I & II. Then there’s Die Hard with a Vengeance. And Terminator 3. And Alien 3. And … Okay, threequels are usually terrible. But here’s a list of threequels that rule their particular series.

Bugs. Arachnids, arthropods, insects, all things of six to eight legs. Anything you wouldn’t want crawling over you in your sleep and dragging you under the bed. Bugs.

They seem so alien. No surprise, given all their features that are so anathema to us autonomous upright primates. Hive minds, exoskeletons, webs, stingers and mandibles, other secretions… And so insects make for some of the best science fiction around, but it’s never exactly cozy.

In this ongoing series, we ask SF/F authors to describe a specialty in their lives that has nothing (or very little) to do with writing. Join us as we discover what draws authors to their various hobbies, how they fit into their daily lives, and how and they inform the author’s literary identity!

When I was thirteen, I got shipped off to one of those wilderness camps for troubled youth that are all around the American Southwest. And… I didn’t hate it! I liked knowing how to build a fire without matches, to carve my own spoons, bowls, and very ineffective boomerangs, bows and arrows. Later in life I returned to work there many times, in the off-terms between college semesters.

As a storyteller, there’s a lot you can learn from making fire, using the resources on the land… and from lentils.

Ahmed is a doctor working in a far flung outpost of humanity. His way was paid for by the leaders of his faith and his atheism is a guarded secret. His encounters with the “kite people” will cause him to doubt his whole worldview however when the aliens start dying and escalating tensions between religious extremists threatens to destroy the colony’s peace. “When Stars Are Scattered” is a moving story about alien contact, religious intolerance, and the redemptive power of the divine channeled through the spirit. Whether that spirit is human or alien.

The author would very much like to thank Khaalidah Mohammed-Ali for her support & suggestions on this story.